Only minutes into the Elias Quartet's Philadelphia debut concert Tuesday at the Kimmel Center, the 14-year-old British-based group was radiating its own distinctive charisma - without the slightest hint of musical force.
Few quartets at any stage of their evolution have this much personality - as manifested by an unusually warm blend, emotional individuality in the incidental solos (especially violist Martin Saving), and a manner of expression that comes so much from the inside out that there's no need for external signposts such as sharp attacks and surface histrionics.
Yet something extra was at work in the opening section of Josef Suk's Meditation on the Old Czech Chorale St. Wenceslas: The power of the group's concentration in this deeply felt, covertly patriotic piece written in 1914 seemed to put the Perelman Theater into a different time zone, one that more readily allowed listeners to check their day at the door. And as much as the piece conveys World War I apprehension, the performance's hotter moments had ecstatic inner force, underscoring just how much was at stake on the brink of possible disaster.
